1st Sierra snowpack survey looks good

WEATHER Water content at 134% of normal seen as a decent start

Peter Fimrite

Updated 11:00 pm, Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Frank Gehrke, chief snow surveyor for the California Department of Water Resources, smiles after falling off his cross-country skis while taking a snow measurement at Phillips Station.
Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Frank Gehrke, chief snow surveyor for the California Department of...

Frank Gehrke (right), head of the state survey team, sets out with his snow depth tube to take the first measurements of the season at Phillips Station in El Dorado County.
Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Frank Gehrke (right), head of the state survey team, sets out with...

Sunny weather, while good for skiers at nearby Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort, isn't good long-term from the perspective of state water managers.
Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Sunny weather, while good for skiers at nearby Sierra-at-Tahoe...

Snow boarders took a break on the ample snow at Sierra at Tahoe ski resort not far from Phillips meadow where the survey was taken. The first snow survey of the new year Wednesday January 2, 2013 found slightly above averages of snow and water content in the Phillips, Calif. meadow near Echo Summit.
Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Snow boarders took a break on the ample snow at Sierra at Tahoe ski...

Frank Gehrke (left) of the state survey team clears snow from the depth tube as Sudhakar Talonki (right) watches. The first snow survey of the new year Wednesday January 2, 2013 found slightly above averages of snow and water content in the Phillips, Calif. meadow near Echo Summit.
Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

"From a skier's standpoint, it's gorgeous. You can't get much better in California than we've got now. The thing that is always on our minds, though, is whether this sunny weather will keep up for long."

The monthly snow surveys, which traditionally begin right around New Year's Day, are important because almost two-thirds of the water used to irrigate millions of acres of farmland and quench the thirst of California's 37.8 million people is contained in the Sierra snowpack.

The water content of the snow has proved over time to be a reliable measure of how much drinking water will be available in California after the snow melts and fills up the department's reservoirs.

The manual surveys at Phillips, a historic privately owned cabin near Echo Summit, and other locations in the mountains are combined monthly with electronic measurements in an attempt to gauge California's water supply.

Better than 2012

Gehrke measured 4 feet of snow depth at Phillips and a foot of water content Wednesday compared with 4 inches of snow and 0.14 of an inch of water at this time last year.

"That's the picture in a nutshell of how much better off we are this year," he said.

California already has 49 percent of the amount of frozen water expected by April 1, when snowpack is at its peak.

The April 1 measurement is important because the Department of Water Resources is required during the winter to leave a certain amount of space in its reservoirs - from 10 to 20 percent of capacity - for flood-control purposes. Those restrictions are generally relaxed in March.

Even now, plenty of water is sloshing around behind the state's dams. Lake Oroville, the primary storage reservoir for the State Water Project, is 71 percent of capacity, which is 113 percent of normal for this time. Shasta Lake, which is part of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Central Valley Project and is the largest reservoir in the state, is currently at 73 percent of capacity, or 115 percent of normal.

The state takes water that flows out of reservoirs into the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and diverts it to California households, industries and farms.

Fluctuation normal

Low precipitation has been a sporadic problem in recent years, creating more stress for state water managers who have been grappling with a host of other issues, including aging infrastructure and ongoing battles over water deliveries.

The state has rarely been able to deliver the full allotment requested by farmers largely because of pumping restrictions to protect threatened and endangered fish, department officials said.

Winter snowfall has been wildly unpredictable from year to year. Last year, Gehrke found only a single 4-inch-deep patch of snow next to Phillips Station.

The snowpack then was only 1 percent of average, the smallest amount in January since measurements began at the 6,800-foot-elevation site in 1964, he said.

Gehrke said huge yearly fluctuations are normal, which is why the California masses should not yet anticipate taking longer showers.

"If things shut down, then not only will you not gain snowpack, but you will start to lose it," he said. "The next three months are going to make the difference between a good water year and a marginal water year."